1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an apparatus for hardening rails having a rail foot, a rail head, which is to be hardened, and a web between the rail foot and the rail head, which apparatus comprises a dip basin for receiving the rail head, a manipulator for receiving from a feeder individual consecutive rails supported at their head and foot and for dipping the head of each rail into the dip basin, and a delivery conveyor for carrying the treated rails away from the dip basin.
2. Description of the Prior Art
For a hardening of rails, in most cases from an as-rolled temperature, at least the head of the rail is quenched by a coolant. In that case it is preferred to dip the rail head into the coolant because this will result in more uniform quenching conditions over the length of the rail than a spraying of the coolant on the rail (Austrian Patent Specification 375,402). But in a series production the rail head to be dipped into a dip basin must be handled by a suitable manipulator, which receives each rail from the feeder and dips the rail head at the bottom of each rail into the dip basin so that the rail head will be quenched.